TITLE: Electric Power Generation using Piezoelectric Devices

Authors: Henry Sodano

Elizabeth A. Magliula
Gyuhae Park
Daniel J. Inman

Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0261, USA
ABSTRACT

Piezoelectric materials (PZT) can be used as mechanisms to transfer ambient vibrations

into electrical energy that can be stored and used to power other devices. With the recent
surge of micro scale devices, PZT power generation can provide a conventional alternative to
traditional power sources used to operate certain types of sensors/actuators, telemetry, and
MEMS devices. In this paper, the dynamics of piezoelectric materials for the use of power
generation devices has been experimentally investigated. The objectives of this work are to
estimate the amount of power that PZT can generate, and to identify the feasibility of the
devices for real-world applications. The energy produced by the PZT was stored in two
different ways. The first was in a capacitor that allows for immediate access to the stored
energy, and the second method charged a nickel metal hydride battery. The power generated
by the vibration of the piezoelectric is shown to be a maximum of 2 mW, and provide enough
energy to charge a 40mAh button cell battery in one hour.

INTRODUCTION

Piezoelectric materials form transducers that are able to interchange electrical energy and
mechanical motion or force. These materials, therefore, can be used as mechanisms to
transfer ambient motion (usually vibration) into electrical energy that may be stored and used
to power other devices. By implementing power harvesting devices we can develop portable
systems that do not depend on traditional methods for providing power, such as the battery,
which has a limited operating life.

H. Sodano, E. A. Magliula, G. Park, D.J. Inman – Center for Intelligent Material Systems and
Structures, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
 Recent studies, experiments and patents, indicate the feasibility of using PZT devices as
power sources. Umeda, et al [1] uses a free-falling ball to impact a plate with a piezoceramic
wafer attached to its underside, and developed an electrical equivalent model of the PZT
transforming mechanical impact energy to electrical power. They also investigated the
energy storage characteristics of the PZT with a bridge rectifier and a capacitor. Starner [2]
examines the energy available from leg motion of a human being and surveys other human
motion sources of mechanical energy including blood pressure. The author claims 8.4 watts
of useable power can be achieved from a PZT mounted in a shoe. Kymissis et al [3]
examines using a piezofilm in addition to the ceramic used in [2], to provide power to light a
bulb in a shoe, entirely from walking motion. Kimura’s US Patent [4] centers on the
vibration of a small plate, harnessed to provide a rectified voltage signal. The effort seems to
be motivated by providing enough energy to run a small transmitter fixed to migratory birds
for the purpose of transmitting their identification code and location. This result is also
compared to using existing battery technology. Goldfarb et al [5] presented a linearized
model of a PZT stack and analyzed the efficiency of it as a power generation device. It was
shown that the maximum efficiency occurs in a low frequency region much lower than the
structural resonance of the stack. The efficiency is also related to the amplitude of the input
force due to hysteresis of the PZT. In addition to the force applied in the poling direction
(d33 mode), Clark and Ramsay [6] have investigated and compared it with the transverse
force (d31 mode) for a PZT generator. There work showed that the d31 mode has a
mechanical advantage in converting applied pressure to working stress for power generation.
They concluded that a 1-cm2 piezoceramic wafer can power MEMS device in the microwatt
range. Elvin et al [7] theoretically and experimentally investigates the use of the self-
powered strain energy sensors using PVDF. Their half-rectified circuit was then combined
with wireless communication device for human bone strain monitoring [8]. Kasyap et al [9]
formulated a lumped element model to represent the dynamic behavior of PZT in multiple
energy domains using an equivalent circuit. Their model has been experimentally verified
using a 1-d beam structure with the peak power efficiencies of approximately 20%.
Gonzalez et al [10] analyzed the prospect of piezoelectric based energy conversion, and
suggested several issues to raise the electrical output power of the existing prototypes to the
level that can be theoretically obtained.
In this paper, special emphasis was given to the methods of storing electric energy
generated by PZT. The amount of power that PZT can generate has first been estimated, and
the feasibility of the devices for charging a re-chargeable battery has been studied. This
research is motivated by the fact that the power generated by PZT is far smaller than required
for the normal operation of most electronics in real field applications. Further, the time
required by PZT to charge power storage devices can take much more time than certain
applications have available. In addition, the low efficiency (from both the PZT and the
circuit) is a critical issue identified from the previous studies. In this study, the energy
produced by the PZT was stored in two different ways. The first was in a capacitor that
allows for immediate access to the stored energy, which has been commonly used in previous
studies, and the second method is to charge a nickel metal hydride battery. The battery
charging method provides certain advantages over the capacitor method, which will be
outlined in the next section. The experimental setup, procedures, results, and considerations
needed to design power harvesting devices are presented in the following sections.
EXPERIMENTAL TESTING

PZT Configurations
An Aluminum plate with a PSI-5H4E piezoceramic (PZT) from Piezo Systems Inc.
bonded to its surface was used to absorb the vibration energy and convert it to usable
electricity. The aluminum plate was constructed as shown in Figure 1. The thickness of the
aluminum plate and the PZT were 0.04 in. and 0.0105 inches respectively.

40mm PZT

62mm
80mm

Figure 1 Layout of aluminum plate with PZT.

Experimental Setup and Results

Our experiment investigates the possibility of harvesting power from the vibration of a
structure such as an automobile compressor. In order to simulate the vibration of an
automobile compressor an accelerometer was attached to a random location of the
compressor. The term ‘random location’ is used because no effort was made in optimizing
the placement of the accelerometer to produce the maximum magnitude of the recorded
vibration. The engine was run at various speeds while the accelerometer measured the
compressors response. The signal measured from a typical compressor had the appearance of
random vibration from 0 to 1000 Hz. The aluminum plate in Figure 1 was attached to a
ridged structure (fixed-free), while a shaker applied the disturbance force. The input signal
used for the experiment is shown in Figure 2, along with the magnitude of vibration
measured at the automobile compressor. The disturbance signal used in the experiments had
a magnitude that was 9.5% less than that of the automobile compressor. The energy
produced by the PZT was stored using two different methods. The first was in a capacitor
that allows for immediate access to the stored energy and the second method charged a nickel
metal hydride battery.
 Vibration of Compressor Measured with Accelerometer Vibration of PZT test Plate Measured by Accelerometer
0.04 0.06

0.03 0.05

0.02 0.04
Vibration Magnitude (volts)

Vibration Magnitude (volts)

0.01 0.03

0 0.02

- 0.01 0.01

- 0.02 0

- 0.03 - 0.01

- 0.04 - 0.02

- 0.05 - 0.03

- 0.06 - 0.04
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Time (sec ) Time (sec )

Figure 2. Input excitation used for the experiment

Figure 3. Experimental Setup.

The first method of storage used the circuit shown in Figure 4. It was modified from a
circuit designed for a self-powered RF tag [3]. First the signal from the PZT is full wave
rectified then accumulated in capacitor C1. Once C1 is charged past 9 volts the zener diode
allows T1 to turn on, which triggers T2 and allows C1 to discharge through the circuit. The
MAX666 is a low-power series regulator that produces a +5 volt signal as C1 discharges.
Once C1 has discharged beyond 4.5 volts the MAX666 sends a negative signal that turns off
T1, allowing C1 to recharge. In the "off" state the circuit has a high impedance allowing C1
to charge fast.
 Figure 4. Schematic of Power Harvesting Circuit (adapted from Kymissis et al, [3])

The power generated by the PZT was obtained using the voltage drop across a 1 kΩ
resistor. The power is calculated using the following relation,

V2
P= (1)
R
where P is the power, V is the voltage drop across the resistor and R is the value of the
resistor. The resulting power (with a chirp input from 0-250 Hz) is shown in Figure 5 and
the voltage and current found are shown in Figure 6. The data presented uses a chirp signal
rather than the random signal shown previously because a chirp signal allows the voltage
produced at different frequencies to be visualized more easily. As can be seen in the figure,
the maximum instantaneous power is identified as 2 mW, which occurs at the resonance of
the test plate. Three PZT plates were tested with the same configuration, and all produce
maximum power in the range of 1.5-2 mW, and average power of 0.14-0.2 mW. These
measurements were made with the magnitude of the chirp signal matching that of the signal
measured from the automobile compressor. In addition, these measurements were made
without a capacitor, which points out that these amounts of power would be immediately
available for powering other devices. This estimation however does not account for the
efficiencies of components of the circuit, such as a capacitor, diode, and voltage regulator.
This estimated power certainly would not be sufficient to operate commonly available
sensors, actuators or telemetry devices in real field application, not to mention that it would
require a certain period of time to charge the circuit, if a capacitor is used.
 -3 Power Output from Test Plate 1
x 10
2

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

Power (watts) 1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Time (sec)

Figure 5. Power Output from Test Plate

-4 Current Output from Test Plate 3

x 10
4
Current (Amp)

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6

Voltage Output from Test Plate 3

4

3
Volt (V)

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Time (sec)

Figure 6 Voltage and Current Output from Test Plate

The second method used a nickel metal hydride button cell battery to store energy
produced by the PZT. This method incorporates a simple circuit, shown in Figure 7. The
voltage produced by the PZT was full wave rectified then accumulated in a capacitor (same
capacitance as the battery). The battery intended to be charged was placed in parallel with
the capacitor.
 Nickel Metal
Hydride Batt.
PZT

Figure 7. Schematic of Battery charging circuit.

Two different types of inputs were used to charge the 40 mAh battery. (The unit “mAh”
stands for the capacity of a battery. The 40 mAh capacity means that the batteries will last
for 1 hour if subjected to a 40mA discharge current.) The first method used a sinusoidal
input signal at the resonant frequency of 63 Hz and the second used the random signal shown
in Figure 2 from 0-1000 Hz. When using an input signal at resonance the battery's charge
time is about an hour, while a random signal will charge the battery in about 1.5 hours.
Figure 8 shows the charge on the battery with an input at resonance and Figure 9 shows the
charge with the random input signal shown in Figure 2.
Numerous advantages arise when the power harvested from the vibration of PZT is stored
in batteries. First the capacitor method requires the PZT to consistently produce electrical
energy the entire time the application consumes power. This is because the capacitor does
not possess the power storage properties that batteries have. The power stored in batteries
can be accumulated and saved for use when no vibration is present. Also the time required
for a capacitor to discharge is much smaller than that of the battery, this causes the capacitor
circuit to switch on and off as the capacitor charges and discharges. For applications that
require a constant power supply two batteries can be installed. This will allow one battery to
be in the charging stage while the other is used to supply power. In addition the power
directly generated by PZT would suffice to operate some micro-scale devices, but it is
slightly insufficient for running typical sensors, actuators, or computing devices commonly
used in real field applications. For instance, a PIC 16C71 processor from Microchip
Technology requires 18 mW at 4 MHz [11], and a functional wearable computer (without
communication device) can be made with a continuous power consumption of 0.5 mW [2].
By using the power generated from a PZT to charge a battery the number of applications
increases significantly. The 40 mAh battery that was charged in one hour contains enough
energy to power a Casio LW22H watch for two years.
 Charge on a 40 mAh Button Cell Battery
1.4

1.2

1
Charge (volts)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Time (sec)

Figure 8. Plot showing the charge from a PZT on the battery (resonance input)

Charge on Battery with Random Input from 0-1000 Hz

1.1

0.9
Charge on Battery (volts)

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Time (sec )

Figure 9. Plot showing the charge from a PZT on the battery (random input)

CONCLUSION

This paper investigates the possibility of harvesting power from PZT devices. Two
different methods for storage of the usable electricity were investigated. The first method
used a capacitor to harvest power. The PZT configuration under consideration provides an
average power of 0.17 mW and a maximum power of 2 mW instantly. In order to overcome
the problems associated with low power generated by PZT, another method, which charges a
nickel metal hydride button cell battery, has been studied. The same PZT configuration
provides energy to charge a 40mAh button cell battery in one hour. The battery charging
method not only raises the level of power, but also allows electric energy to be stored for a
longer period of time.

Acknowledgement:
This work was sponsored by Her Majesty’s Government Communications Centre, PO#
A53178 under the direction of Scott Wilde BEng (Hons). The authors gratefully
acknowledge the support.

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